SATAN'S MISTRESS

US, 1981, 98 minutes, Colour.
Lana Wood, Britt Eklund, John Carradine.
Directed by James Polakof.

Satan's Mistress is an odd occult romantic thriller. It seems the work of a young film-maker making an exercise in horror films to establish his career. He has the advantage of a professional cast led by Britt Ekland and Lana Wood.

The film is an odd blend of the Women's Weekly-style daydreams of wealthy Northern Californian wives and the touches of the occult. The pace is frequently slow moving with the emphasis on glamour and exasperated interchanges between the characters. Eventually there are some special effects for shocks and scares. The premise behind the film is that when some souls die, before going to Hell, they have the opportunity to wander the world in order to snare another soul and so redeem themselves. In this film, the wandering soul takes the appearance of a swarthy romantic hero who becomes the demon lover of the neurotic American housewife. Both occult and psychological explanations are offered. A curiosity item.